One Night Stand
by ulktante
Summary: Two people struck with frustration search out a way to relax. All starts from there. This is a sketch of a beginning to a story. It's finished and intended to spark your imagination! AU James Potter is not Harry's father Links to stories inspired by this one in my profile!
1. Chapter 1 - Frustration

**AN: Stories where James Potter isn't Harry's dad are one of those you can find often. There are a few versions used often but I never saw one where he is the son of this pairing without massive out of character or some kind of force involved.**

 **I challenged myself to find a way and here is what my muse came up with.**

oooOOooo

 **Frustration**

Lily stormed through a small unnamed village on the Welsh coast. Her green eyes were almost sparking with her anger, her fists clenched, her warm cloak billowing behind her.

It was the beginning of November, and she just needed to be away from Potter Manor for a time.

She loved James, she truly did. Dearly. But sometimes he could be such an obnoxious prat!

She had understood when he had asked her to stop taking the contraceptive potions after they had married. His parents had struggled to conceive, and that he feared the same would happen to them if they were to wait was not something she could just dismiss. To argue that she had wanted to get her Charms Mastery, work, live before they became parents, felt petty. As she had agreed to marry the last of the Potters, she had agreed to become a mother, because James would need an heir.

So she had argued that the war against Voldemort – she refused to call him by those ridiculous monikers in her own head – was not a good time to have a child. Argued that as long as they were actively fighting they could not risk her becoming pregnant.

But that had not worked in her favour.

James had argued back, that they could both be killed or maimed in the fights, that they might be hit by something rendering them infertile, that they should live life to the fullest because they could not know when it would end.

By now they had escaped Voldemort himself more than once, got in several skirmishes with the Death Eaters, and still they were trying to conceive. Lily had to admit that it seemed they would have to struggle to have a child just as James' parents had had to fight for years.

And that had been the reason that they had had a row only half an hour ago.

Lily had walked into the kitchen of the manor to get the hot tea she drank before every dinner by herself, instead of having it brought up by one of the elves. She knew it should be about ready, and as she was walking by anyway, she thought to safe little Prim the trip. And there she had seen the little being assigned to her for her needs, dripping a potion into her tea.

Lily had not been one of the best students of their year in potions for nothing. Immediately she had recognized the fertility potion.

Red hair flying behind her she had found James in the study, back from his work as an Auror, bending over some papers. And then she had vented her frustrations. Why was he feeding her potions? Why hadn't he asked? Didn't it occur to him that maybe the problem was him, not her? That he was not able to father a child?

It could have become a reasonable discussion if James had not uttered a sentence under his breath Lily was not sure she could forgive him for.

"And I thought by marrying a muggle-born I wouldn't have this problem."

She had not been that furious since Sev had called her a mudblood after they had taken their OWLs.

And now she had been apparating around for hours, walking through the countryside to work out her frustrations. It was getting dark now, and she still was not sure if she wanted to return to Potter Manor. Spotting a pub ahead, Lily decided that she would drink something before returning home. It had been a while since she had been out just for fun. James had become quite paranoid, not letting her go anywhere alone, or just with her female friends. He, Sirius, or Remus always had to accompany her. She had begun to feel claustrophobic.

Stopping by a window and using its reflective surface to examine herself, Lily got her wand out and started to apply some concealment charms. A few moments later, her eyes were an unremarkable brown, her hair an ash-blonde, and her skin a few shades darker than before. Even if there should be a wizard or witch inside the pub, no one would recognize her.

oooOOooo

With a disgruntled face Tom watched as the last of his minions retreated from his study, bowing low, or mostly crawling in some cases. It certainly had been easier recruiting the dimwitted, bigoted, and greedy. But now that he had to work with them, his choice in followers proved to be poor. Their backstabbing habits, and slow understanding of what he wanted from them was a great source of frustration for him.

And as he just now had once again experienced, cursing them until they had screamed so long their voices gave out only helped marginally in relieving some of his frustrations.

Maybe it was time he ventured out into the countryside, wandering the moors, hills, and forests in an attempt to find some peace.

With a turn on his heel Tom apparated up to his rooms where he quickly discarded his dark blue, billowing robes on his way to the bathroom and a refreshing shower. How long had it been? Months, surely, by far too long between moments to forget about his quest to overthrow the Ministry of Magic, about followers with their own agendas, idiots he had to explain everything to more than three times only for them to make errors anyway. In short, he needed a break.

He had noticed, after the murder of his father, and that undeserving muggle's parents, how his control over his magic had become harder and harder to maintain. What had been easy when he had not yet been eleven became harder and harder to do. It had taken some time of difficult research to come to the conclusion that the creation of horcruxes had more severe side effects than Tom had anticipated.

Standing under the spray of hot water, feeling his muscles slowly relax, Tom remembered with a shudder the two rituals he had had to undergo to reintegrate the two horcruxes he already had created at that time. Pleasant was something else. But as his control over magic had returned after that, along with a few other things he hadn't really missed, he was glad he had taken the time to research the oddities in his magic before he could progress farther along the way to the seven pieces of his soul he previously had planned to make.

Tom stepped out of the shower, flicked his wrist to dry himself off with magic, and proceeded to dress in the muggle clothes he had hidden away in a secret compartment of his wardrobe. Where he wanted to go, it was better to blend in and not stick out like a sore thumb.

While he stood in front of the mirror changing his appearance just enough not to resemble himself any longer, Tom tried to reason out a good destination. Maybe a long walk along the sea would help clear his head. With now shorter black hair, unremarkable brown eyes, and darker skin, Tom picked up his warm cloak, a scarf, and a hat, before he apparated straight from his room to the Welsh coast. A long brisk walk and after that a nice beer in one of the pubs would help him calm down.

Maybe he needed to get rid of a few of his more inapt Death Eaters in the next weeks. It certainly would help him manage his frustration, and most likely would increase his chances for success tenfold.

oooOOooo

 **AN: I'm already finished with this little sketch of a story beginning and will post the chapters over the weekend.**

Thanks to Jordre and Jake for helping to improve my spelling!


	2. Chapter 2 - Lovely Company

**AN: Thanks for the lovely reviews! Here is the second chapter. Hope you like it!**

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 **Lovely Company**

Lily cradled her second pint of ale and still didn't feel like returning home. Why did James insist on making everything so hard? Before they had married, he had never even hinted at what he now was insisting on. With a low growl of frustration, she turned around to look over the patrons in the pub once again. She would dearly love to talk to someone, flirt a little. The war and the pressure from James were grating on her nerves.

Suddenly the door to the pub opened, attracting the eyes of everyone sitting at the small tables. Lily was sitting at the bar, one of the only places left without having to sit with some stranger at a table, and watched as a man in his late thirties or early forties came into the pub, removing his hat and opening his cloak. He looked dashing.

It was obvious he didn't fancy sitting with a stranger at a table any more than Lily had when she had come in here to take a break, warm up, and think in peace. So he strode over to the bar, threw his cloak over one of the empty stools and sat on another, only one over from where Lily was sitting.

"One beer." With a small smirk Lily noticed that he had a nice voice, and sounded a little irritated. Maybe here was someone she could talk to, air her troubles without it getting back to one of her friends or, God forbid, James.

When a pint of beer had been placed before the interesting stranger, Lily boldly turned towards him with an easy smile. She hadn't been in Gryffindor for nothing.

"You look irritated. What's the matter?"

The stranger took a sip of his beer and then turned so he could look over to her. "Trouble at work," he answered her inquiry after studying her from head to toe.

"That has to be better than trouble at home," Lily snorted, taking a swig of her beer, emptying it before she gestured for the owner of the pub to bring her another.

"Not so sure about that. My subordinates keep getting everything wrong and don't even realize. And I have to go correct their mistakes again and again. I never have been in a more frustrating situation." It clearly was meant as a challenge to prove that her situation was worse than his.

Lily was only too happy to accept. "Well, I married right out of school, and now my husband, who I truly love, insists on having children right away. But I wanted to further my education, maybe work a while. And now we've been married a while, and still no children on the way. I told him to go to a doctor and get himself checked, because I already went. But no, that's not an option." She accepted the next pint, took another big gulp, quickly thinking how to present the concept of a fertility potion to a muggle without giving anything away. "Today I caught him mixing some herbal stuff promising fertility into my tea. We had a row. I left."

The stranger snorted. "You win. I only have to put up with stupidity, not betrayal."

And suddenly the knot that had sat in her stomach the whole time started to loosen. That was it, exactly. James had betrayed her trust. Had fed her potions without her knowledge. In fact, he hadn't even asked once. They had talked a lot about how to increase their chances of conceiving. Timing, food. Lily had been to see a healer. But not once had they spoken about using fertility potions.

She nodded slowly. "But still. I love that idiot."

"What will you do? Put some pepper in his tea?"

Lily laughed, and over the next two pints they shared more and more ridiculous ideas on how to get back at her husband with pranks. Lily loved the idea of changing his shampoo to something dying his hair something bright and glaring. Maybe she would add some hair-growing potion into the bottle.

By the time the pub started to empty, both of them had lost most of the tension and were talking like old friends. She had introduced herself as Rose. He had said his name was Thomas. She wasn't so sure if she wanted to believe him, but considering everything, she really didn't care.

oooOOooo

The evening had been a wonderful distraction. Rose had sharp wit, and was, for a muggle, a really good conversationalist. To his immense relief Rose had agreed to stay and take a room together with him in a small inn down the road. She clearly was out to get back at her husband, and Tom certainly had no moral scruples about taking advantage of the fact.

She was attractive, and the fact that with his two soul part back, his sexuality had made an appearance, meant that he had needs he couldn't ignore.

Intimacy of any kind brought a vulnerability that Tom couldn't really stand to open up to. Any kind of romantic relationship would offer up targets to his enemies. Even engaging in sex with someone as himself, without any romantic feelings, could get dangerous. It would open up the possibility for assassination attempts.

That was the reason he sought out Muggle women whenever he felt the need for closeness. Going to a pub, bar, or club, searching out someone who was looking for the same as he, chatting her up, and finding a place for some privacy. It wasn't always as easy as it had been today, but with contraceptive charms it was pretty safe, and better than living celibate or exposing himself to someone who had magic. In such intimate situations, it was a real possibility that he might be discovered or catch some of the magical maladies that were transferred through such close contact.

With a bow Tom opened the door. "After you, my Lady."

She laughed and assumed a snobbish pose, sauntering into the room and twirling in place. Tom grinned and followed. While her back was turned to him, Tom cast a contraceptive charm at her, contemplating that if she was a witch with a fertility potion in her system, such measures would be useless. Another reason why he preferred to be intimate with muggle women. He always told them he was unable to father any children if they even asked, and made sure to cast the needed charms.

Their clothes were discarded pretty quickly and they got to know each other. Soon she was enthusiastically urging him on to continue with what he was doing, causing Tom to feel smug. He made a point of perfecting his abilities in everything he did. He never had heard any complaints from his partners. It was kind of funny that he was as good at giving pleasure as he was in torturing his enemies.

Several very pleasant hours later, Tom had dressed again and looked at Rose sleeping with a satisfied expression on her face. This excursion in search for some much needed stress relief had worked out rather well. With a smile on his face and a spring in his step, Tom made sure that the bill was paid, and then apparated back to his home.

Meeting Rose had been a lovely coincidence. Now he would get rid of a few of his more useless idiots, and then hopefully he would be able to proceed with his plans. With his needs taken care of, Dumbledore and his Order looked much less like a problem and a hassle and more like a nice challenge. An easy victory was kind of boring anyway.

oooOOooo

Thanks to Jordre and Jake for helping to improve my spelling!


	3. Chapter 3 - In Love and War

**In Love and War**

Lily sat in her rocking chair up in Harry's room, contemplating how she had come to be here in this situation, while breastfeeding her little darling.

It all had started with that blasted fertility potion. After that one night with Thomas, she had woken alone in that room, had found the bill paid, and had left for home. Of course another row had followed, because James had been terrified for her safety, had believed she had run into some Death Eaters, that she had been hurt or worse.

The sex that followed had been spectacular.

A few weeks later Lily had been sure that she was pregnant. And at the same time, she had known it couldn't have been James'. Even though she hadn't managed to bring James to accept the possibility that he was the reason conceiving took so long, she had found a charm in one of her books to simply test if a man was able to father children or not. She had cast the spell on her husband as he'd slept. She had hoped to be wrong, or to have a reason to drag him to a healer. Now that she knew that James wasn't the father, couldn't be the father, only Thomas remained as a possibility.

She still remembered quite vividly how her thoughts had run in circles that day and the following night. She had used a contraceptive charm while she was with Thomas. How was it even possible that she'd gotten pregnant that night? More research had followed, and she'd unearthed some information about fertility potions that looked as if it had been deliberately kept secret for quite some time.

What she'd found had made her furious. It seemed to be tradition to feed fertility potions to young married witches even if they didn't want to get pregnant just yet. That worked because the properties of fertility potions countered the effects of the charm. So the mystery of how she could get pregnant in spite of the charm was solved.

For long hours she had contemplated what to do. If telling James was a real option, or if she should try to pass off her child as James'.

In the book detailing the fertility potion was another, used to give an unborn child the likeness of a different father. It had been easy to brew the potion, to take it as often as was required and to banish Thomas from her mind. She didn't really know him. They had spent one evening together. There was no way she could make any guesses as to what living with him would be like, and despite that she often found herself speculating.

And now here she was her beloved Harry in her arms, so much bigger now than when she had held her miracle baby for the first time.

Over a year on the run because of a prophecy she had never heard. Because a spy had warned the Headmaster that her son was a possible target. Now hidden away behind a powerful spell, unable to leave the house.

James was close to climbing the walls because there was just nothing to do at this house. Harry was ecstatic that both his mommy and dadda were always there and playing with him. Her little boy loved his toy broom, toddled around the house chasing after the cat, and smiled all the time.

But Lily was frustrated. Hiding away while others fought felt wrong, and she had trouble accepting the necessity without a good reason. James, Sirius, and Remus all had tried to convince her to trust the Headmaster in this, without knowing the exact wording of the prophecy. But she felt frustrated with the old man's lack of trust in them. He always held information so close to his vest, never telling anyone anything if he could avoid it.

Lily of course understood the need for secrecy. But if something affected her life as much as this supposed prophecy, she felt she had a right to know. And she knew that she was able to keep something secret. They all suspected that there had to be a spy in their midst. Or someone who talked about things where he or she shouldn't.

It galled that she wasn't trusted enough to keep the information secret, but was expected to heed the words of the Headmaster without question. Maybe James kept nothing secret from his three friends, but she certainly would keep things even from James if need be. But she couldn't very well say that.

Hopefully the war would end soon. She hoped that her beloved son would get the chance to grow up in a peaceful world.

oooOOooo

Since the night that Severus had told him of that prophecy, Tom had pondered if he should act on it or not. Only one thing was sure concerning that piece of overheard hogwash: Dumbledore expected him to do something about it.

Of course he had hunted and attacked the Potters. They were paragons of the light. Fighting against him. Why should he avoid them, show mercy when they were fighting against him?

But killing a baby? Only on the say-so of the possibility that it might some day have the power to kill him? Even the common flu would one day be able to kill him. When he was old and grey, so a long time to come. But it would happen.

He still was working on making peace with that.

But now the Potters thought they were safe, and Peter had brought him the information he had needed to find them. Using the fidelius charm to hide them had been an unexpected move. But Dumbledore rarely acted in logical ways.

Severus had pleaded that he spare Lily Potter. An interesting request. Only begging for the mother, not the father. It was telling. But Severus' troubles were well known aspects, and the man's knowledge and ability in potions was invaluable. Tom planned to honour the man's request. Sending a stunner at the woman was as easy as sending a killing curse. Such an easy distinction to make to secure the loyalty of a useful man.

It was Halloween. Kids were running around, dressed up as witches, mummies, several different superheroes. His own appearance didn't stick out much. He had put on the glamours portraying the looks everyone was expecting. After he had stopped that dangerous experiment with the horcruxes, he had retained his good looks, and had only aged slowly, as was usual for wizards of a certain amount of power. But his snake-like appearance was hidden behind the hood and cloak he had thrown on over his robes, which in turn covered his trousers and tunic.

And there it was: the house of James and Lily Potter.

It was almost too easy.

A blasting curse to the door made the way free for him to enter the house. James called out to his wife to get Harry and run, then stepped into his way.

Tom snorted, the man didn't even have his wand.

In the background Tom heard frantic footfalls on the stairs, heavy things moved over the floor. And in front of him stood a frantic wizard, determination in his eyes, willing to die to buy his wife and son just a moment more time.

It was admirable, but useless.

Two words. A simple spell. And the body of one of his most troublesome enemies fell to the floor.

Tom took his time walking up the stairs. There was no reason to hurry.

Another blasting curse removed the obstacles Mrs. Potter had managed to pile against the door. Brushing back his hood Tom stepped into the room and saw the fierce mother dragon standing in front of a crib, her wand missing as well.

Tom didn't waste time on monologuing, it always was the downfall of the villain in any story everywhere. He simply send a stunner at the woman, interrupting her pleading.

Silence followed the sound of her body hitting the floor.

And then a high pitched voice asked "Mommy?" A toddler just a few months over a year old, hoisted himself onto his legs, using the bars of his crib as a handhold.

Green eyes focused on the still form, then wandered up to look at Tom. A moment they stood there staring at each other.

Then the little boy held his arms up to Tom in the universal gesture of small children to be picked up. **.:Up:.**

Shock traveled through Tom as he heard the hissing sounds of parseltongue falling from the lips of the small boy. How was that even possible? The Gaunts had been the last of Slytherin's lineage. Tom's mother had died with him as her only child. His uncle never had any children. And he himself always had been extra careful.

Casting the charm, only ever searching for the company of muggle women. Tom started to mentally calculate the age of the little Potter boy. Had he been with any woman back when the boy had been conceived?

He quickly came to the conclusion that he had been with Rose in that particular timespan. The muggle woman who had complained about her husband giving her some herbal stuff to bolster her… Red-slitted eyes flew to the woman on the floor. Lily, Rose… Could it be?

Tom never would have guessed, stories like the one Rose had told him were too common to make the connection. Peter had spoken about discord between Lily and her husband.

Had Lily Potter been Rose?

Tom quickly cast a paternity charm on the small child, who squealed in delight over the pretty light. Then that light formed the words _Tom Marvolo Riddle_ over the child, and Tom began to curse colourfully in parseltongue.

Now what should he do? He had detected a number of wards as he had stepped into the house. And here near the crib he felt more, intricate, powerful wards. Someone had made a great effort to shield the boy from harm. There was not much time. He needed to decide what to do now.

oooOOooo

 **AN: I'm aware that probably many of you will be shocked when I say: and this is were this ends. Jordre and Jake for sure were and told me that I couldn't leave it here. Because there are so many possibilities this could go from here.**

 **And that's totally true. And also the reason why I will not write more to this for the time being. A story were I don't know where to take it and where it will end is liable to never get finished. So I'll concentrate on "Benefits of Old Laws" and might come back here later.**

 **If someone should feel inspired by this sketch of a beginning and decide to write a story, please leave me a link. I would love to see where someone else might take this!**

Thanks to Jordre and Jake for helping to improve my spelling!


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